Growing up in dreary old Michigan, my idea of adulthood was always the party scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. That’s the life I longed for. That’s the world I belonged in. I lived vicariously through cinematic party scenes back then, still do. A good party scene makes the movie. I’ve included my favorites in this list of the 15 best movie party scenes of all time. You might disagree. For instance, there’s no Animal House, because yuck. And no 16 Candles because I couldn’t find the right YouTube video. And a certain movie made the number one spot because, well, it had to.
15. Romeo & Juliet: Any party where young Leonardo DiCaprio is tripping balls (and wearing chain mail) while drag queens sing “Young Hearts Run Free” is alright by me. The video is rather poor quality (it’s the only one I could find) but you’ll get the gist. And strangely, this looks like every megaclub I went to in the ’90s.
14. The Great Gatsby: Nobody does razzle-dazzle like Baz Luhrman, and the debauched flapper extravaganza in The Great Gatsby left audiences breathless. The SMH sums it up: “Singers, dancers, swelling music, waiters with giant bottles of champagne, staircases, a swimming pool, squeals of delight, fireworks, glittering jewelry and hundreds of well-tailored guests having the time of their lives. The parties at Jay Gatsby’s mansion dazzle in The Great Gatsby.They are not so much a sketch of the opulence and decadence of Jazz Age New York as a full-blooded, pulsating immersion in it.”
13. The Big Cube: Whoa, man, it’s, like, a psychadelic freak-out in The Big Cube, and these drug-addled kids are groovin’ out in this scene, dancing the Monkey, the Pony, the Jerk, and the Hully Gully. This club is number one on my list when I get my time machine.
12. Clueless (The Val party). What you WISHED your high school parties were like.
11. Bells Are Ringing: Judy Holiday finds herself at a snooty ’50s-era party, trying to make conversation with the beau monde, and failing miserably. “Just drop a name!” someone suggests, and the ensuing musical number is a list of names that were deemed droppable at the time. It’s heaven.
10. Anna Karenina: In the 2012 movie version, Anna and the soul-squashingly debonaire Count Vronsky take an erotically-charged spin around the dance floor that scandalizes Moscow society. Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s post-modern take on the waltz will linger in your memory for weeks. The sensual writhing and twisting of their arms, the way that ANNA spins VRONSKY around, and his sublime peacocking is simply gasp-inducing. I must have watched it half a dozen times before uploading it here. Can you imagine actually going to a party like this?
09. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: What the what? You know those bizarro after-hours parties you sometimes find yourself at where nobody is making a lick of sense, and everything takes on a weird dreamlike logic? Times that by INFINITY, and you have the party scenes in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. I love it.
08. Sweet Charity: Bimbo-with-a-heart-of-gold Shirley MacLaine is taken to the Pompeii Club by film star Vittorio Vidal and watches the beautiful people in their natural environment doing the “Rich Man’s Frug.” The costumes, the Bob Fosse dance movies, Shirley’s infectious energy… it all combines into one glorious explosion of color and manic ’60s energy. This was one of those scenes that I clung onto in my teen years, convincing myself if I could just get to New York, I could be one of these people and live this kind of life.
07. Absolute Beginners: The party scene from the vastly underrated Absolute Beginners is one of my absolute favorites. It’s set in the ’50s, yet looks oddly ’80s. Weird. In this clip, young photographer Colin (played by the adorable Eddie O’Connell) finds himself at a wild party thrown by the late great Anita Morris, and decides it’s time to sell out. I could watch it all day.
06. Bonfire of the Vanities: BizBash on what makes the opening scene so magnificent:
It is a single tracking shot, one of of De Palma’s trademarks, and it follows the arrival of author Peter Fallow (played by Bruce Willis) at his book party for The Real Sherman McCoy. Yes it is exaggerated, over-the-top, and very broadly acted. But us party folks can’t help but acknowledge how much they got right: the overly effusive celebrity handler who leads the tipsy honoree through a maze of back alleys, then the requisite celebrity-hits-on-event-staffer interlude, until finally the honoree is deposited into the hands of a beautiful socialite who is chairing the evening and who escorts him out onto the Winter Garden Room at the World Financial Center, which was the de rigeur event site of the late ’80s, early ’90s for folks like Amfar and Christian La Croix. Anyone who has had to greet, meet, usher, coddle, clean-up, or shield a celebrity arriving at an event has to enjoy this scene.
05. Midnight Cowboy: Wannabe hustler Jon Voight and his crippled con-man BFF Dustin Hoffman attend a trippy, Warhol-esque party complete with actual Warhol Superstars Viva, Ondine and Ultra Violet. ”Flesh and blood and smoke will be served after midnight,” according to the flyer. The party style and decor is heavily influenced by Andy Warhol’s own psychedelic events, and there’s a glimmer of The Electric Circus in the set design. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to party at the factory, this is probably as close as you’re going to find.
04. Star Wars: Mos Eisley’s Cantina, of course, is a bar on the planet Tatooine. ”You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” says Obi Wan to Luke before they enter. What happens next is the stuff of every little boys dreams. Oh, to go clubbing on Tatooine.
03. Auntie Mame: The be-all and end-all of sophisticated party banter. Sigh. Was there anyone ever more chic than Rosalind Russell? Her flamboyant, exuberant portrayal of Mame Dennis never gets old. And the over-the-top opening party scene here is one for the ages. (And be sure to note the ethnic, geographical, and sexual diversity of her guests. Pretty progressive for the 1950s).
02. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Perfect. Just perfect.
01. Party Monster. What can I say? It’s my life, onscreen. Of course I think it’s number one!
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